The XFL situation is extremely interesting and has a whole hell of a lot more depth than the treatment that it's getting. Here are a few important points:

  • Vince McMahon wants to get into sports. He's wanted to do this for this a long time, and he specifically wants to get into football. He wanted to buy the Canadian Football League, and he's been in talks to buy different NFL teams at different times.
  • He's waiting until 2020 to properly prepare, which was one of his key mistakes from the initial XFL run. How quickly that first run went from concept to being on television is insane.
  • This is his hobby, and he's doing it with his own money just because it's something he wants to do.
  • The losses of the first run from the XFL were not that bad at all. The WWF only lost $35 million, and that's after NBC fucked them on the TV deal that was originally for two years. I know that $35 million sounds like a lot to most people, but he's lost ten times that on a single day before. It's not a huge deal.
  • All of the shit about no players with criminal records and all of the shit about kneeling during the anthem is just marketing and promotion, and it worked. It's virtually the only reason it's getting the media attention it's getting. It's carny as fuck because he's carny as fuck, and aside from his massive balls is one of the biggest reasons why he went from getting the shit kicked out of him in a trailer park to being worth ten figures at one point.
  • The main reason he had a press conference this early without anything substantial to say was to make sure it was understood that it was being done with his own money and not under the WWE umbrella because that could affect WWE stock prices adversely.
  • McMahon is getting to the point now that he's going to be phasing out his involvement with WWE. This is the type of thing he's going to be transitioning over to, but it has to be handled carefully because him just pulling out completely would tank their stock.
  • The XFL is not competition for the NFL, and it's not trying to be. There's plenty of room for another league, and there's plenty of interest for more football. One particularly strong path they could try is to become a feeder league for the NFL, and that's something a lot of people would get behind because they feel the NCAA exploits athletes.
  • On the topic of investors and league structuring, it's worth noting that the original XFL didn't have franchise teams. The league owned all of the teams. That was an important point, and I think that it's a model that he'll want to continue with.

Overall, it's a really good thing with no downside for virtually anyone.